More Young Women Live with Parents than Any Time Since 1940s

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According to the Pew Research Center, in 2014, 36.4 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 34 lived with their parents or relatives. That’s the highest percentage recorded since the 1940s. But why?

Part of the reason is that today women are much less likely to be married than in the past. That fact, combined with economic incentives are causing many women to stay home, or in some cases, return home.

“There was that element of frustration and feeling like a failure,” Casey Ballard, a 29-year old who recently returned home for economic reasons, told the LA Times. “But then the logical side of me kicked in and said, ‘It’s just fiscally responsible.’”

However, according to Richard Fry, a senior economist at Pew, the economic incentive for women to remain at home is not being caused by a lack of employment opportunities.

“The job market has gotten significantly better [for young women],” Fry said. “Unemployment has come down, more have jobs and some are even getting paid a bit more.”